Thanksgiving Recap and It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

How's that for a title?

Thanksgiving went a little something like this...

1. Tuesday... Stayed up really late to finish packing. Realized my red shoes that had just come in that afternoon and were bought specifically for Wednesday's family portraits, didn't fit. At all. Like, wouldn't even go over my toes. And then I fell to the ground trying to make them go on. Not my shining moment. Two hours or rethinking our outfits later, bedtime.

2. Wednesday... Got up really early to get dressed and take family Christmas pictures in the cold air. Tears, snot, running toward traffic-- I'm a mess without my coffee-- and had to schedule a reshoot. Actually, baby boy was NOT a fan of that cold day.

Yay for one single good shot! Here's our Christmas card picture:

3. Drove to Houston. I have become quite the fan of long car rides. The boys sleep and I can sit still for a couple of hours and read. That never happens! I even watched a little Netflix on my phone and Jeremy and I got to chat along the way. It was like a date.... words I never thought I'd speak. 

4. My sister hosted Thanksgiving and we stayed in a hotel! That is THE way to go. After supper and visiting with the family, we went back to our room, got into our p. jammies and cozied up in the big bed with a little Food Network. I love hotels.

5. Thursday... We put on our Thanksgiving clothes and watched a bit of the parade before heading to Kristin's house. Throughout the day, we cooked and more family trickled in. I grabbed a hot potato with my bare hands and chunked it straight at my brother-in-law's mother, nearly killing her, so that was exciting. After a yum-yummy meal (thank you, Pioneer Woman menu plan), the girls all went out to see Breaking Dawn. I proudly admit that I'm 30 years old and loved the Twilight books. Not as much as Harry Potter. There, I said it.

These shirts were quick and easy-- I used faux suede for the ties and felt for the turkey faces, then fabric-glued everything right on the shirt. I saw the inspiration in a flash while browsing Pinterest, but don't remember where exactly.

6. Then we watched the last ever Texas A&M vs. UT Thanksgiving Day game. We're Aggies fans around here so it was a sad defeat for our team.

7. Friday was spent doing some Black Friday shopping, polishing off leftovers, visiting Santa at the Bass Pro Shop and driving home.

8. Laundry, laundry, laundry.

I love our tradition of spending the rest of Thanksgiving weekend, decking our halls. 

It's the hap-happiest season of all! 

Our first real tree (non artificial)

When it comes to decorating, Christmas is all about traditional reds and whites for me. I experimented with pom pom trim on the tree and love it so I need to go get some more.

Snow Village

I'm Thankful.

I am the world's worst at getting my boys' handprints. They're not in daycare (those teachers are so GOOD at documenting handprints, aren't they?) and I just never think to do it.

After seeing this on Pinterest, I recognize that I do need to be better about getting those precious fingers in ink every once in a while.

The truth is, thinking of my boys growing up makes me sad. I'm just not one of those mommies who can't wait until the next stage. I'm nostalgic. I cling to every stage and beg it to last forever. I guess that doing fingerprint crafts scares me a little. It's silly, I know, but I feel like one day I'll look back at these little turkey and tree paintings and I'm not so sure I'll swell with joy. I'm pretty sure I'll be reaching for a Kleenex.

So, why do them? Because, if the Lord blesses my little men with time and years, they will grow up. It's good. And if I don't have anything tangible around to remind me of when they needed Mommy's strong, sure hand in their much smaller one, I'll regret it.

Don't misunderstand, making the pillow together was a memory that I'll look back on fondly. We had fun and laughed together and talked about color and art. I praised my four-year-old for stifling his giggles when I painted his hand to keep it steady. I was shocked at how the one-year-old was able to slowly place his hand on the fabric without wiggling his fingers into a blurry mess.

Right now, I love looking at my pillow every day.

But ten years from now? We'll see how it goes.



Shared with: Tatertots and Jello

A Thanksgiving Ideas Collection

The big Turkey Day is coming up quickly! This is the first year in (forever) many years that I'm not hosting The Meal or really cooking much at all. We're going to my sister's and she's doing almost everything, bless her heart. Jeremy and I just have to show up with the kids and a pie-- we've been fist-pumping for days now!

What about you-- doing the cooking or showing up? They're both fun... one option just means a whole lot more work.

As long as I get to watch a parade, a dog show, eat at least two pieces of pie and veg out on the couch, my Thanksgiving will be complete... and talk about all the many blessings I have to be thankful for, of course.

Enjoy my little collection of projects I've gathered with a Thanksgiving feel. Isn't it the perfect holiday?

Autumn Burlap Tie Wreath

Reverse Applique Table Runner and Nature-Inspired Table Setting

Thankful Activity for the Thanksgiving Table

Funny Templates for Thanksgiving Shirts

Crustless Pumpkin Pie and Free Printable

Colorful {Blessed} Mantel

Chewy Molasses Cookies

My Thanksgiving {Blessed} Mantel

Did you join in on the 20 Minute Challenge today and make your Countdown to Christmas binder? I did! If not, you can jump in at any time. Click here to learn more about it.

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I was inspired by the argyle ties my boys got for Thanksgiving. 

You can read more about them here.

The bright orange, greens, browns and yellows were just the ticket for a playful--with a touch of tradition-- Thanksgiving mantel with a focus on how blessed we feel.

My inspiration photo:

I even hung one of the ties right up on my green platter!

To achieve the argyle-look for my bunting, I cut diamonds out of felt in two different sizes and sewed them together. My four year old and our little neighbor girl got to help me cut the felt pieces-- it was fun!

The BLESSED banner was created from simple brown paper bags-- that's it! I just stamped my letters on the paper squares and glued them to a flat remnant of cording I had left over from my antique chair makeover this summer. 

It's casual and colorful and makes me happy. We are truly blessed indeed.

Shared with: Tatertots and Jello, I Heart Naptime, Somewhat Simple

Thanksgiving Ties

I hope your Halloween weekend was so happy and restful! Is it already Tuesday? Oh! I guess I weekended a little long. We spent the last few days with my sister and her family.

While we were there, she took down all the Halloween decorations and started assembling her Thanksgiving mantel. My own wheels are now turning about what I might do over our fireplace. 

When we got home, I pulled up these sweet pictures I took before our trip...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a color palette like this for my Thanksgiving home. 

Erica at B is for Boy made my two little men these adorable argyle adjustable strap ties and I think that the colors are absolutely wonderful! Bright orange, lime green, browns and blues. Not too serious, but still pays homage to the traditional.

I'm feeling so inspired! Didn't she do an amazing job? I told her that I needed a longer tie for my oldest and she whipped one up to my specifications with no trouble.

Erica sent the ties quickly and they came professionally packaged--great for gifting. She even included instructions for how to wash and fold them back together if your boys are prone to spills (what boys aren't?). 

You will find so many cute handmade ties in Erica's shop, B is for Boy. She also writes a great blog called B is for Boy where she documents the projects she takes on for her sons. 

As a mom of two boys myself, I love finding great shops like hers (it's not easy to find fun dress clothes for my guys) and am even happier when the service is excellent.

You'll love Erica-- go check her Etsy shop and blog out right away!

Crustless (and Perfect) Pumpkin Pie... Recipe and Free Printable

I could eat a big slice of this everyday of my life and never tire of it. That's rare for me--I don't usually like repeats. In fact, I prefer this version over regular crusted pumpkin pie. 

I will confess that I made it on Thursday night and between my husband, me, The Office on DVR and a big glass of milk, it didn't last to morning light.

Remorsefully, I added up the Weight Watchers points the next morning. I'm not really on Weight Watchers, but I was thinking that without the crust it might not be too tragic.... 

I was right! Woo-Hoo! A piece (1/6 of the pie) is only 6 points plus! (Now, if you eat the whole thing, that's a completely different story. I probably should be a little sorry.)

So I made another one for breakfast! We shared that one with the children.

Here's the recipe (modified from a Bisquick Recipe from General Mills). 

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup whole milk

1 T. melted butter

1-1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Stir all ingredients together and pour into a greased pie plate.

3. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate to store.

It also makes really good mini-pies. Pour filling into a muffin tin and adjust cooking time to 15-20 minutes.

Shared with: The Idea Room, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Sugar Bee Crafts

Tutorial and Templates: Funny Thanksgiving T-Shirts

Butterball and Sweetie Pie

1. Print out a template--I tweaked clip art and added the words.

Feel free to use my designs--they're at the bottom.

2. Place the print-out on a piece of cardboard and slide both under your t-shirt.

3. Trace your design by dotting along the lines. I used a highlighter because it was light in color and it didn't skip on the fabric like a pencil or pen would.

4. Use fabric paint over the traced design. Let it dry at least four hours.

5. Take embarrassing pictures of your kids that you can pull out on first dates, graduation night, when meeting future in-laws, etc. (wink)

My designs:

I was featured:



Linked To:
The DIY Show-off, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, The Gypsy Corner, All Thingz Related